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Sunday, December 26, 2010

Vision for the New Year

Christmas is past and now comes the time of year when everyone begins to make resolutions. We say that this new year is going to be different. We say that this year 'I will ... lose weight, get that promotion, stop smoking, eat healthier, etc.' The tendency is to make these resolutions and stick to them for a few weeks or months and then to simply forget about them. After a few years it's easy to start thinking there's no point. We get tired of making the effort when there is no true result. But sometimes we forget that the idea of making a resolution is very similar to a Biblical idea. In Habakkuk 2:2-3 it says:

And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

"Write the vision, and make it plain...". It doesn't say to specifically do it at the beginning of the new year, but that's as good a time as any. God has set a principle of having a vision for our future. He wants to look ahead and prepare for what is coming. In 'Undeveloped Dream cont.', I also mentioned Proverbs 28:19:

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Our vision is what brings order to our world. Our vision is what keeps and protects the law and morality of God. We need vision. So what is the answer to the problem I mentioned earlier? How do we make our resolution (vision) bring lasting results?

The first and most important key to bringing lasting results is seeking God for the right vision to pursue. What does God want for us in this new year? What God wants usually coincides with our own desires, because God will plant desires in our heart for us to pursue.

Psalm 37:4

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of yourheart.

When we look into the Hebrew we can better translate this verse as the following:

Make yourself pliable in the hands of the Lord and He will place desires in your heart.

In other words, the first step, before deciding on a vision, is actually to put ourselves in God's hands and to let Him form us. The Bible says that He is the potter and we are the clay. Let the Potter form you and you will begin to realize that your desires will match with His.

Once you have put yourself in the forming hands of God, we return back to the first verse in Habakkuk. It's time to start writing down those desires that seem to be from Him. We need to write it down and seek God about how He wants to use that to protect His law and morality in this world. Then write that down. Be as specific in writing as God is in speaking to you. Keep it somewhere visible all year, or however long it takes to fulfill it, and continue seeking God for updates in the vision. God never gives it all to us at once, probably because He knows that we will stop seeking Him if we know all we need to know. So keep seeking Him and every time He tells you something new, write it down.

It's time to seek God for 2011. What does God want to do through us this year? How does God want to affect the world around you? He's just waiting for you to ask!